At the end of the day or on the weekend, the grey cells want their rest. So that you don't have to binge-watch "Too Hot to Handle" or spend so much time on your computer screen, I've got five beautiful fashion books for you to browse through.
First and foremost superficial. Status symbol. At any rate, not serious. These are the prejudices that fashion has to contend with. All I can say is: it's worth taking a deeper dive into the subject. Away from fast fashion and hasty conclusions. Because behind many fashion houses there are visions, ingenious creative minds, outstanding craftsmanship and often even centuries of history. Of course, there are documentaries you could watch. But fashion and print, that's a match made in heaven. And it would be nice not to stare at a screen for a change, wouldn't it? Fashion book is the magic word. These five have already made it into my home library via the shopping cart.
"Prada Catwalk - The Collections"
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In 1913, brothers Mario and Martino Prada founded a leather and haberdashery business in Milan under the name Fratelli Prada. 65 years later, Mario's granddaughter Miuccia inherited the family business. The name "Fratelli" was lost, but the heiress added her first fashion line to the range. The rest is history. "Prada Catwalk" shows every collection of the Italian fashion house since its debut in 1988 in around 1200 impressive pictures, plus background facts, the detailed history of the family business and the complete biography of the already legendary Miuccia Prada. Worth seeing and reading.
"Wild Thing - Fashion Scene Switzerland"
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Why wander far and wide when good things are so close? For some years now, small labels and young creatives have been ensuring that an innovative, colourful fashion scene has been developing in Switzerland. The Zürcher Museum für Gestaltung dedicated an entire exhibition to the local fashion bubble from December 2020 to May 2021. If you missed it, you can look at all the highlights over and over again at home thanks to the accompanying publication. And they will probably be amazed at what Switzerland has to offer in terms of textile design.
The blog Highsnobiety has been providing the world with news and background on streetwear, music and culture since 2005. In the meantime, there is also something analogue to touch with "The New Luxury". The 319-page book with its iridescent cover is not only something for the eye and the coffee table, but is also filled to the brim with streetwear knowledge. A dazzling encyclopaedia with a focus on everything that means luxury today. Sneakers, tracksuit bottoms and hoodies included.
English, Statures, Robert clans, Highsnobiety, Maria-Elisabeth Niebius, 2019
Like me, did you grow up with the supermodels of the nineties? Then you'll love this book! Claudia Schiffer herself looks back on the peak of her career in this illustrated book and brought colleagues like Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford on board. Previously unpublished photos from Schiffer's private archive and pictures by Ellen von Unwerth, Peter Lindbergh and Patrick Demarchelier make this book a wonderfully nostalgic trip back to the nineties. One or two trends may even sound familiar to those who didn't live through the decade. Thanks to 90s comeback.
"Fashion Changers - How we can change the world with fair fashion"
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"With this fair fashion guide you will learn everything you need to know about sustainable and ecological fashion", the book promises in its blurb. To be more precise, this means: tips on how you can also convert the clothes in your own wardrobe to sustainable, portraits about people who are already working at full speed on a better textile industry and listings of useful addresses, fair materials and relevant fashion labels. Exciting for everyone - perhaps especially those who have preferred to consume their fashion "almost" so far.
